Mobile gaming apparently lends itself to strange bedfellows, like HTC reportedly signing on to promote Sony's PlayStation Certified program. And in doing so, HTC finds itself as the only non-Sony entity to secure certification, which it will use to its advantage in the mobile handset market, or at least attempt to. It's not as though companies are beating down Sony's door for a PlayStation Certified stamp of approval.

The next time you go shopping for a high definition television, don't be surprised to find that TVs from Sony and Samsung consistently cost more than the competition. The reason, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, is that both are forcing new policies on retailers forbidding them from advertising or selling TV sets for less than predetermined price points by each respective manufacturer. The policies apply to both online and brick-and-mortar sales.

Sony suffered through its worst year ever in 2011, and not just because of the high-profile hacker attacks that compromised millions of user accounts and resulted in extended downtime to the PlayStation Network. The real reason Sony can lament 2011 is because of the fact that it posted a net loss of $5.7 billion, the company's largest loss ever in its 66-year history, and the fourth straight year of sitting in the red.